After 66-year run, Wells brothers to close Hi Way Motors on South Main

Bill Wells of Hi-Way Motors on South Main Street in Anderson stands in a near-empty car lot on Thursday. Wells and his brother Jerry Wells are closing at the end of the year, ending a run of the business at the same location since 1951.(Photo: Ken Ruinard/Independent Mail)

Bill Wells, left, and his brother Jerry Wells of Hi-Way Motors on South Main Street in Anderson are closing at the end of the year, ending a run of the business at the same location since 1951.(Photo: Ken Ruinard/Independent Mail)

From a comfortable vantage point on South Main Street, the Wells brothers have had a front-row view of Anderson's automotive trends of the last half-century.

Bill Wells, 77, and Jerry Wells, 68, have seen the demand roll from big luxury cars to muscle cars to the arrival of smaller European and Asian cars. They've witnessed the revolution from standard to automatic transmissions, the emergence of trucks, along with sport utility vehicles and crossovers.

They've seen the Falcons, Nashes, the Bobcats, Hornets, Vegas and Pintos rise and fall. Oldsmobiles and Studebakers, like pages of dinosaur history, have become extinct during their auto careers.

As if to keep them from extinction, Jerry Wells loves to restore Corvairs — he owned 13 at one time and still owns a few. But for at least half-century, the Wells brothers have closely observed all the trends in the auto business while working at the Hi-Way Motors dealership their father, Henry Wells, started in 1951.

It ends, quietly, at the end of December. Rather than renew the license for a 67th year of operation, the brothers plan to retire. Both are looking for pontoon boats and a slower lifestyle, with hopes of selling one of Main Street's oldest businesses.

The business represents a connection to a golden era of auto sales in Anderson, where Main Street showcased the city's "Motor Mile." As Americans first fell in love with sedans in the 1950s, few families in Anderson County and northern Georgia made a purchase without strolling through the options on South Main Street.

New-car dealerships dominated the area nearest the historic downtown blocks until they scattered in the 1970s, seeking busier roads to the north.

Used-car dealerships remained on South Main longer. As recently as the mid-70s, Hi-Way Motors was within two blocks of at least five other used-car dealerships — B& M Motors, Scarboro Motor Company, White's Motor Sales, Boggs Motor Sales, and Ashley Motors. Three other dealerships (Carolina Auto Sales, Billy Wells Motors, and Whitt's Motors) were just a few blocks to the south.

Car-seeking visitors were so prevalent that Henry Wells made a big change in the mid-70s, taking down the small cinder-block business office in the middle of the parking lot and replacing it with the mobile business home that flanks the property today. At the same time, a shop was added and a stand-alone restroom was eliminated on the rear of the twin-lot property,

While the size and the variety of cars rolling into the lot have changed dramatically, the business and its South Main setting have not. In a small mobile home that has served as the business office for more than 40 years, an antenna stretches across the top of the property, reminding customers that the office does fine without extras like cable TV. And while Jerry Wells uses a computer at home for much of the company business, he hasn't yet found a need to install one at the car lot.

The brothers know the 1200 block of South Main well. Bill, 77, recalls working after school when he was a student at McCants Junior High in the 1950s. Jerry, 68, came on board in the 60s, when many cars had those big fins and thirsty carburetors.

They stepped into management in the 70s, when Henry shifted his interest to a mobile home business on Pearman Dairy Road, at the present site of a Lowe's store . Henry retired in 1978, 17 years before his death, but not before he made an impression on his sons with his sometimes unorthodox business strategy.

"When business was slow, he'd go out and buy two or three more cars (to resell)," Bill Wells said, remembering an era when he'd often squeeze as many 90 cars into the sales area. "He always said, 'you can't do business with an empty wagon.'"

"He was kind-hearted," Jerry Wells said of his father. "He'd let folks take a car home with them, and they didn't have to decide on buying it 'til the next week."

But financial arrangements and insurance liability were a bit more simple elements in those days, as was restocking inventory.

"There was a time when we never had to leave the office. Wholesalers would bring the cars here and we'd look at them and decide if it was a good investment," Bill said. "Now, all the dealers are forced to go to auction to find cars. It's a lot different now."